Shadow Play
by Animorph516
Summary: "You have 10 questions to figure me out." You can do this! You're a journalist! Well, not yet. But you will be.


Laura looked at the mysterious girl in the passenger seat. Stared, really. The light turned green, and neither noticed or cared all that much.

 ** _HOOOOOOOOOOOOONK_**

OKAY, okay. She stepped on the gas, mind still distracted by thoughts of her roommate. She was inhumanly gorgeous, maybe literally. That 'maybe' was the crux of many worried thoughts lately.

"Easy Hollis, don't want to break the sound barrier."

Huh? Oh, she was doing 55 in a 40 already.

The impromptu road trip was in lieu of a cancelled ZETA party. They'd called the whole thing off after a plague of frogs ruined the campground and left tadpoles and slime puddles all over. It would take 3 weeks to clean up, so instead many students had gone into the nearby villages and hovels for a weekend away. Turns out Carmilla owned a nice Volvo, and for some reason let Laura drive when the saw how much the girl wanted to. She suspected the tiny human wanted a taste of freedom, of independence. Hitting the open road was a grand tradition, and as old fashioned as Carmilla sometimes was she enjoyed them presuming the company was tolerable. Carmilla had programmed the SatNav to being the pair to her small cabin up in the mountain valley her family had called home over 300 years before. Her sanctuary.

"Want to listen to my road trip playlist?"

"Not particularly."

Was that a huff?

It was. Laura wasn't entirely sure why she'd agreed to come on the trip with her not-quite-a-friend roommate, while all these missing girls were languishing who knows where. She did deserve a day off though. Her chore wheel wasn't working off the stress like she'd hoped.

"Or we could play a game? Like 20 questions to get to know you better!"

"Fine. But make it 10."

"Ugh, whatever you grouch. 10 questions about you, and you promise to tell the truth."

"I promise." She hoped it wouldn't come back to bite her, but gaining Laura's trust meant a lot for some reason. "You have 10 questions to figure me out."

You can do this! You're a journalist! Well, not yet. But you will be. "Um, okay. Number one: are you really inviting me along to seduce me?"

Damn. "Absolutely yes Cupcake." Gauging the human's reaction was easy, as the undoubtedly sweet blood rushed to her cheeks.

Surprised a bit, Laura realized she should have expected that. "Two: have you really not read Harry Potter?"

"I read the first one once in Latin. Wasn't impressed." That got a reaction, all right.

"You can read Latin?" She already knew Carm spoke English and German, but Latin seemed like a weird choice to study. What was she, the Pope's daughter?

"Yes. Three down, Cupcake."

Ugh, of course she would do that. And how could Laura have been foolish enough to fall into her trap? Moving on. Favorite color was obviously black. What else?

"Fine, grumpy pants. Four: are you close with your family?"

Quiet. After a minute she finally spoke, so softly one would strain to hear over the road noise. "My family all died a long time ago. I have an adopted mother and siblings, but most of them are awful. I like one sister, but I haven't seen her in almost a decade." Well that doesn't make much sense. Carmilla could hardly have been much older than herself, probably 21 at most.

The Volvo nosed to a stop, and both girls looked up at the fading sun. About 20 minutes left, up this old mountain path. The twisty bits weren't so bad in this car, but treacherous was a word that came to mind when viewing the rays illuminating the almighty snowy peaks. Shadows abound, and the wind is cruel. "We should probably switch. I know this road better than anyone, and you probably wouldn't survive falling off the mountain side." Laura agreed, although she really hoped shotgun also possessed seat warmers.

As they climbed the mountain, Laura looked out silently and tried to think of what she wanted to inquire about. She was getting the vibe that Carmilla was much more than she seemed. The evidence so far was Soy Milk that may actually be Blood, and since she left her camera on a few times had seen her lifting a heavy bag effortlessly and once seemingly appearing in a puff of smoke. She had to ask while the girl was feeling relatively talkative.

"Cat got your tongue?" That smirk was devastating.

"Hmm? Just thinking about my next question. I've got an idea, but it can wait till we get inside."

* * *

Shutting out the cold, Carmilla turned to see Laura in that adorable scarf admiring the entryway. "Come on creampuff. Kitchen is this way, you can make some hot cocoa." She set the metal thermos down carefully, not disturbing the joyful expression that previous statement elicited.

After that most necessary task was accomplished, she led the both of them into the small seating area and opened the curtains to reveal the majestic vista over the balcony. "What was it you were thinking of asking, cutie?"

"Again with the food based nicknames. Okay, numero 5: are you human?"

Stare.

"I mean, you look human. You are a very good looking human. But Silas is pretty weird, and the whole milk container thing and possibly super strength and maybe being older than you look from how you talk about things... am I being offensive?"

Picking up her jaw, the broody girl answered. "No."

"Good. Wait, not being offensive or you're not human?" The light in her eyes was just too much. Reflecting off the snow, it cast a pale glimmer that reminded Mircalla of moonlit Paris nights and the vampire's dead heart melted a tiny bit more than she ever thought it could again.

"Both."

The penny dropping that she was actually speaking to someone who claimed to be another species was definitely among the top three nerdiest moments Laura Hollis had ever experienced. She pressed her luck.

"Ooookaaay. Um, is your species from this planet?"

A snort was answer enough, but Carmilla set eyebrows to stun and added "what, you think I'm some kind of alien? Not that far out, cutie. I'm from Austria."

"So. Not human. Still from earth; actually not far from here. Drinks blood, strong, eternal youth, knows a dead language. Well, I guess that leaves one obvious possibility..."

That wasn't a question. Laura had kinda lost track, but she knew the... vampire?... would be counting. She was pretty certain there were still a couple to go even if Carm was playing mean and counting every question.

Carmilla just cocked her head and waited. Patience was a virtue one cultivated over centuries, and that scrunched up little face she made was so darn cute.

Laura took a deep breath, and asked. "Carm, are you really a vampire?"

"What, you want proof?" She suddenly disappeared, until Laura felt a breath on the back of her neck and quickly spun around to find a smirking vampire, drinking from a thermos. As she set it down her lips were stained a little darker red than usual, and Laura swore she saw two points protrude from the top and bottom. As Carmilla smiled, the points grew larger into what could reasonably called weapons. "Don't worry. I know you're off limits. Besides, you inhale so much sugar my fangs would rot."

Holy Hufflepuff.

She was really a vampire, for real.

"Just so we're clear, you have no plans on eating me?"

"Wouldn't say it exactly that way cutie. By the way, that query makes 10. Now, why don't you bundle up and we can go sit on the balcony _in silence_."

Laura's blush and Carmilla's tongue running over her teeth made it very clear what form of eating they both had in mind. She was a little puzzled as to why the vampire kept supplies for humans up in her cabin, since she'd gathered nobody ever got close to her before. "It hardly costs me anything to be aware of your limitations." It didn't sound quite as condescending as she would have thought the day before.

"How long have you been, you know..."

"Dead. You can say it. Long time, I'm over it."

It did not escape the attention of either that 11 questions was beyond the rules. Screw it, why not 12?

"Do you want to kiss me?"

A small groan escaped the vampire's lips at the thought. "Shut up, Hollis."

Carmilla made sure that she did. Thoroughly.


End file.
